# cigar beetles? please ease my mind...



## Dhughes12 (Feb 15, 2012)

just finished up a very nice fuente gran reserva perfecto, but while i was smoking it, and studying it as it burned, i noticed a few things. first. the final 3rd had a few, not pinholes, but very light spots. also, the ash of my cigar had a ton of very tiny pinhead size dots on it. so, probably against my better judgement, i started reading up on tobacco beetles. which, since i was smoking it, really started to mess with my head. i am including a couple pictures, you can see the white dots clearly at the base of the ash but they were covering the ash itself..
























is this normal, or is that an infested cigar? fairly new to cigars so i cant say if i've ever seen these before. thanks for the info. for what its worth, the cigar was really good....


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## smelvis (Sep 7, 2009)

I'd guess just in the leaf but not beetles.


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## Dhughes12 (Feb 15, 2012)

did my pics show up? doesnt look like it on my end, but when i edit they look inserted...


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## Dhughes12 (Feb 15, 2012)

View attachment 38685
View attachment 38684


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## ptpablo (Aug 22, 2010)

Its all good Dustin. looks good to me.


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## ShortFuse (Jun 6, 2011)

Not beetles my friend. Looks like some bleaching from sun spots or just a bad part of the leaf like Dave said. Rock on with your bad self!


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## Dhughes12 (Feb 15, 2012)

thanks guys! any idea what the tiny little balls are?


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## BaconStrips (Jun 3, 2012)

This should answer your question about the "little balls"


This was taken from cigarfan.net:

Water Spots

The other common imperfection of the harmless type is the water spot. These usually occur as very light yellowish-white circular patches that stand out against the light brown of a shade grown wrapper.

It is commonly believed that drops of rain water sitting on the leaf cause damage to the chlorophyll in the leaf, eventually affecting the curing process so that instead of degrading from green to brown, the pigment in the spot turns lighter than normal.


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## piperdown (Jul 19, 2009)

water spots and small stem pieces from what I can see. No beetles in the cigar.


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## DrJoe (May 11, 2014)

OKAY, I know the last reply to this post ended a while ago, but I can see responders weren't understanding what you were talking about. Due to the sunspots or water-spots on the wrapper, they assumed that's what you were trying to show. Not surprising. You were talking about the way tiny little balls were visible at the edge of the ash as you were smoking! Yes, I see this all the time. These are not eggs or bugs. Some have said that they are "incinerated eggs" visible as the cigar combusts... Not true. Eggs are way too small to see with the naked eye. These balls are actually melted resins that carbonize, literally melt and ball up as the cigar combusts. Wanna see something crazy? Start smoking any cigar - Maduro cigars exhibit this more prominently, and use a cigar you don't need or want. Now, after you've been smoking a while, Take your torch and BLAST the foot directly into the center of the ash. Keep going... You should start to see everything heat up and certain areas get really red and start to ball up and turn white. There you go. Melting resins / oils that when all the life is sucked out of them, leave behind tiny, carbonized drops that look like little balls - which cause panic because they do kinda resemble insect eggs! Keep on Smokin'!


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## ssaka (Oct 28, 2007)

Looking at the photo and reading the question and replies, I believe the correct answer is what you are inquiring about is tooth. Tooth is what we call small pustules of oil that form more prominently on some tobacco varieties. We also sometimes refer to this as grain and it is a good thing.

From your pics, these are the ashen results of the tooth.

Btw, tobacco beetle eggs are typically located in the center of the barrel of the bunch and you would never be able to see them without the aid of magnification. Only once in a larva stage are they visible and again, you would have to dissect the cigar. 

Fwiw, tobacco beetles are far less common than the use to be even 20 years ago due to the use of modern pesticides, better farm and factory practices, and the widespread adaptation of freezing at the factory level.

Hope this helps,

STS

ps: Good pickup DrJoe!


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## DaWhyte86 (Jan 28, 2014)

I just got real paranoid myself reading up on cigar beetles. I just moved down to Virginia from NY and first thing I noticed today were my humidors sitting at 81°... Instantly thought cigar beetles haha. Turned my air on while I investigate where the coolest place in my apartment is...


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## DrJoe (May 11, 2014)

Yes, the tooth may also form what could loom like eggs, absolutely. I'll try and take a macro pic of the balls that form on some cigars. No matter what it is, we definitely both agree that it is not eggs because they're simply impossible to see! So whatever it is, the question is answered. It's not eggs, so don't worry! Keep on smokin'!

Ps Thanks ssaka



ssaka said:


> Looking at the photo and reading the question and replies, I believe the correct answer is what you are inquiring about is tooth. Tooth is what we call small pustules of oil that form more prominently on some tobacco varieties. We also sometimes refer to this as grain and it is a good thing.
> 
> From your pics, these are the ashen results of the tooth.
> 
> ...


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